Prairie School at Overland Trail Museum opens registration for summer sessions

Parents who wanted a spot in Prairie School had to register in person at the Overland Trail Museum, where signups opened at 9 a.m. Saturday for children who have completed kindergarten through elementary school. Phone registrations were not accepted, and the Logan County Chamber of Commerce listed the fee at $25 per child.

Six session blocks are planned across the summer: May 26-29, June 1-4, June 8-11, June 22-25, June 29-July 2 and July 20-23. Families can call the museum at 970-522-3895 for details, but the museum is handling registration on site.

Prairie School is built around an 1800s-style experience that goes beyond a classroom lesson. Museum posts from earlier years show children working from McGuffey Readers, panning for gold, dipping candles, doing leather work, learning chores and taking part in square dancing. In one week at the Stoney Buttes School, students made bookmarks while working through reading lessons, then closed the program with a student performance and a pie-eating contest. That mix of hands-on work and old-fashioned fun is what has made the program a regular summer draw.

The museum has hosted Prairie School as a recurring tradition, and one earlier post said the program ran seven weeks in a prior season, a sign that volunteer teachers can expand the schedule when enough help is available. That matters in Logan County, where families looking for affordable summer activities often want something local, structured and rooted in the area’s history.

Overland Trail Museum gives the program a fitting setting. Longtime listings describe it as a Sterling landmark with historic buildings that include a prairie school, general store, church, barbershop, stone block house, caboose and boxcar depot. The museum has also been part of broader community history work, including plans for an eight-week Smithsonian traveling exhibit tied to America 250 and Colorado 150, along with school tours and other public programs. Prairie School fits that role by turning the museum into a place where children can touch the tools, lessons and routines that shaped pioneer life.